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CFG vs. FFIC: Which Stock Should Value Investors Buy Now?

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Investors interested in stocks from the Financial - Savings and Loan sector have probably already heard of Citizens Financial Group (CFG - Free Report) and Flushing Financial (FFIC - Free Report) . But which of these two stocks offers value investors a better bang for their buck right now? We'll need to take a closer look.

Everyone has their own methods for finding great value opportunities, but our model includes pairing an impressive grade in the Value category of our Style Scores system with a strong Zacks Rank. The proven Zacks Rank puts an emphasis on earnings estimates and estimate revisions, while our Style Scores work to identify stocks with specific traits.

Right now, Citizens Financial Group is sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while Flushing Financial has a Zacks Rank of #4 (Sell). Investors should feel comfortable knowing that CFG likely has seen a stronger improvement to its earnings outlook than FFIC has recently. But this is just one factor that value investors are interested in.

Value investors also tend to look at a number of traditional, tried-and-true figures to help them find stocks that they believe are undervalued at their current share price levels.

Our Value category highlights undervalued companies by looking at a variety of key metrics, including the popular P/E ratio, as well as the P/S ratio, earnings yield, cash flow per share, and a variety of other fundamentals that have been used by value investors for years.

CFG currently has a forward P/E ratio of 10.10, while FFIC has a forward P/E of 12.17. We also note that CFG has a PEG ratio of 0.65. This figure is similar to the commonly-used P/E ratio, with the PEG ratio also factoring in a company's expected earnings growth rate. FFIC currently has a PEG ratio of 1.09.

Another notable valuation metric for CFG is its P/B ratio of 0.85. The P/B ratio is used to compare a stock's market value with its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. For comparison, FFIC has a P/B of 1.18.

Based on these metrics and many more, CFG holds a Value grade of B, while FFIC has a Value grade of C.

CFG stands above FFIC thanks to its solid earnings outlook, and based on these valuation figures, we also feel that CFG is the superior value option right now.


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